Thursday, November 24, 2016

If we all take a look at how badly The Democrats screwed up by nominating Hillary Clinton for president, it'll come as no surprise to see how Donald Trump won. The fact is that Hillary and the Democrats ran the most tone-deaf campaign ever in recent memory, calling basically any and all opposition to Hillary sexism. Not that Trump had a clear plan to begin with, but at least he bothered to talk in language that resonated with the same bloc that Bernie Sanders tapped into as well. The only difference being the directionality of where the voters' anger would go. The point being that Hillary's ad hominem argument that all criticism of her was sexist helped to drive many of the same voters that Barack Obama won in 2012 over to Trump.

Given how we're now in the post-election transitionary stage for Donald Trump's upcoming presidency, it's now a good time to reflect on how the DNC's pigheadedness enabled this victory for the far-right. No one should be ignoring the fact that a Trump presidency will certainly be a rallying cry for reinstating White male supremacy together with Jim Crow and Reaganomics. But this is also our moment to get organized to fight against this agenda.

To understand why we're being forced back into this old fight, we need to first look at what enabled this to come back onto our political dialog. Much of the bigotry coming out to the forefront is from the anger of being left behind in the global economy. Additionally, that same anger has exploded as another wave of White Rage against Blacks and other minorities for having the audacity of even thinking they have special rights over them. This is complete nonsense as the principle of all men are created equal has been established in the Declaration of Independence and enshrined in The Constitution, via the Preamble and 14th Amendment. But the DNC has no credibility left in making this point as they, like the RNC, have been partaking in too many divisive cultural issues. This is all while doing nothing to help the people who were badly struggling to get by. It's been especially true in regards to middle-class and working-class Whites, many of whom voted for Barack Obama in both 2008 & 2012. For Democrats to dismiss these voting groups as little more than, as Hillary Clinton called them, a basket of deplorables, which is a death-sentence-in-waiting at the polls. So it's any wonder that the GOP has control of all 3 branches of the federal government. The Democrats needed to craft their message as being the party that would fight for economic justice, but instead went with divisive identity politics.

The corporate mainstream media didn't help matters by largely being an Orwellian mouthpiece of the Clinton campaign throughout this electoral cycle, often with the same kind of echo-chamber effect that also takes place among right-wing news media. It was no better with many left-wing news media, like The Daily Beast and The Nation. Even The Huffington Post was no better in many respects. Instead of actually reporting on the data they received, they badly misled the public in order to get their candidate (Hillary) elected and used bullying tactics to achieve that goal. Which was why they propped up Trump instead of calling out his overtly bigoted commentary. What they intentionally ignored was the fact he was able to connect with the same voters that Bernie Sanders had tapped into, many of whom were tired and furious about being sidelined and ignored. Besides being tired of being told how to talk, act, etc., they rebelled by voting for Trump. Who can blame them? The point being that the Democrats gave off the aura of entitlement to their votes. That sense of entitlement that came out the Clinton campaign was turning voters off, more so than Trump's bigoted comments.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

I can't say enough how saddening it is to see this country take a massive step backward in a sense, and I understand how it's affecting women (especially those whom I'm close to). The way that the election's outcome was a massive step backward for women's rights was by giving powerful mysogynists new ammo to trivialize any incidents of sexism and equate those same incidents with crying wolf. It's going to get a lot more difficult for women's lives here in America.

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

As the Associated Press just projected, Donald Trump will be our next president when he assumes office in January. So let's roll up our sleeves and find ways of reining him and the GOP in. This means holding both Paul Ryan & Mitch McConnell's feet to the fire to make sure that they don't try to sell us out to the highest bidder. We'll see what happens, but we should start organizing ourselves for making sure that we minimize the amount of damage that he'll cause.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

To hear media figures like Andrea Mitchell, say that they got they got it wrong is a gross understatement. This is their worst slip-up since 1948. They missed the entire surge of populist anger that had fueled both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump's campaigns. So their confusion is understandable, but their miss is completely inexcusable. Their miss has completely shot their credibility.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

I remember that I wrote on here back in April that Hillary Clinton would lose in next week's election, and what's more unsettling is that my prediction was completely accurate. Seeing the whole house of cards come down is just another way of exposing the overall point that Hillary was not fit for office by any means. Yeah, I'll admit she's the most qualified on paper, but the fact is that she's got horrible judgment that's led her to make even worse decisions. We can't have that in a president. Now this isn't to say that Donald Trump is any better, because let's face it, he's too incompetent to be president from being unable to stick to any of his decisions. The fact that he's made openly bigoted and insulting commentary is another reason to disqualify him, too. But we've now got the least competent candidate possible heading into White House, where he shouldn't be in or anywhere near.

But this would not have been the case if The Democrats hadn't been so pigheaded about lining their pockets at the expense of the electorate. That's exactly what happened when they nominated Hillary, a candidate who in reality is even more unqualified than Trump is. And now look at the upcoming aftermath, especially at what will be the complete tarnishing of Barack Obama's legacy when he leaves office in January. And for what? To bring in a major pay-to-play scheme that threatens to undermine American sovereignty just so a newly elected president can line their pockets? Who wants this? Unbelievable! Maybe now with the GOP in complete control, the Democrats will wise up and start to bring down the corruption that's tainted them in the eyes of the American electorate.

The DNC should take to heart that in no way should they take their base's vote for granted. This cuts especially true with progressives and other core constituencies. Without the base, the party can't win elections. This proved true back in 2000, and it's proving true today in 2016.